[co-author: Cindy Mikul]

As part of a collaboration between EUIPO (the EU Intellectual Property Office) and EURid (the .EU and .ЕЮ Registry), a new service has been launched that allows EUTM (European trade mark) applicants and rights holders to opt-in to receive alerts as soon as a .EU or .ЕЮ domain name identical to their application has been registered.

This new move builds on the two bodies’ collaboration that was formalised in 2016. Since the start of this collaboration, EUTM applicants were easily able to check if an equivalent .EU domain name was available and, if they so wished, register it with an accredited registrar. But as of 18 May 2019, holders and applicants of a EUTM have been able to opt in to receive alerts as soon as a .EU domain name is registered that is identical to their EUTM application. The Registry states that, by receiving such an alert, EUTM holders can take appropriate action much sooner than they would be able to if they had to search for the offending registrations themselves.

EURid highlights on its website that certain registrants have, in the past, taken advantage of the early publication of EUTM applications in order to register trade mark names as .EU domain names in bad faith. The Registry stresses that “effectively reducing the risk of such cyber-squatting infringements requires adopting preventive actions such as raising awareness and pro-actively informing the EUTM holders.”

The EUIPO has said of the new service that it “goes a step further in helping to tackle potential .EU and .ЕЮ domain name abuse, and in creating a more transparent and trustworthy online .EU space.”

This post is selected from our Anchovy News publication: Anchovy® is our comprehensive and centralised online brand protection service for global domain name strategy, including new gTLDs together with portfolio management and global enforcement using a unique and exclusive online platform developed in-house.

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